James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of a work permit application by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59267/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Permits Section of my Department inform me that a standard application for a Critical Skills Employment Permit for the person concerned (details supplied) was received on 22 August 2021.

Applications for employment permits are dealt with in date order. The Employment Permits Section of my Department are currently processing standard applications received on 4th August 2021.

Applicants can keep track of Employment Permit applications current processing dates at enterprise.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Workplace-and-Skills/Employment-Permits/Current-Application-Processing-Dates/Current-Processing-Dates-for-Employment-Permits.html

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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43. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department will expedite a decision on an application for a work permit by a person (details supplied) given the exceptional circumstances of the person concerned. [59296/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Permits Section of my Department inform me that a standard application for a Reactivation Employment Permit for the person concerned (details supplied) was received on 25 November 2021.

Applications for employment permits are dealt with in date order, however given the details outlined by the Deputy the Employment Permits Section of my Department have prioritised consideration of this application.  Given that the person concerned left his first employment in the State before 12 months had expired (12 Month Rule), he will be asked to provide an explanation as to why he left his previous employment as no explanation was provided as part of the application submitted. 

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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44. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if barbers will be added to the list of occupations eligible to apply for employment permits given the difficulty to fill vacancies in the profession; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59339/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.

The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations. In order to maintain the relevance of these lists of occupations to the needs of the economy and to ensure their ongoing relevance to the State’s human capital requirements, they undergo twice-yearly evidence-based reviews. The reviews are guided by research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the Skills and the Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), SOLAS and involves public/stakeholder consultation.  Account is taken of education outputs, sectoral upskilling and training initiatives and known contextual factors such as Brexit and, in the current context, COVID-19 and their impact on the labour market. Consideration is also taken of the views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group, chaired by my Department and of the relevant policy Departments.

Hairdressers and related services which includes Barbers are on the Ineligible Occupations List. In order to add or remove an occupation from the lists, evidence is sought demonstrating that recruitment difficulties are solely due to genuine shortages across the EEA and not to other factors such as salary and/or employment conditions. The review process invites stakeholders, through the public consultation, to provide data to substantiate claims of lack of skills or labour availability in a detailed evidence-based business case. Evidence is also required of structured and systemic engagement with the public employment service of the Department of Social Protection.

The most recent review of the Occupations Lists concluded on 27th October. In response to the public consultation, 29 submissions were received from a range of bodies including the Agri/Food, Hospitality and Transport/Logistics sectors. The review did not recommend changes to the Hairdressers and Grooming sector at this time. It was found that further evidence is required to support the contention that churn is not an issue in the sector and of structured engagement with the Department of Social Protection.  

The next review will begin with a public consultation in the coming months with commencement announced on the Department's website. Contact details may also be forwarded to the Department for those who wish to receive email notification of the consultation phase.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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45. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if discretionary consideration will be given to applicants of professions not on the list of occupations eligible to apply for employment permits once the prospective employer demonstrates they have exhausted all avenues available to fill the job vacancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59340/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.

The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations. Occupations included on the Ineligible Occupations List are occupations in respect of which there is evidence that there are more than enough Irish/EEA workers available to fill such vacancies, and therefore an employment permit shall not be granted in Ireland. Every other job in the labour market, where an employer cannot find a worker, may be eligible for an employment permit.

In order to maintain the relevance of these lists of occupations to the needs of the economy and to ensure their ongoing relevance to the State’s human capital requirements, they undergo twice-yearly evidence-based reviews. The reviews are guided by research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the Skills and the Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), SOLAS and involves public/stakeholder consultation. Account is taken of education outputs, sectoral upskilling and training initiatives and known contextual factors such as Brexit and, in the current context, COVID-19 and their impact on the labour market. Consideration is also taken of the views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group, chaired by my Department and of the relevant policy Departments.

In order to add or remove an occupation from the lists, evidence is sought demonstrating that recruitment difficulties are solely due to genuine shortages across the EEA and not to other factors such as salary and/or employment conditions. An occupation may be considered for removal from the Ineligible List where there are no suitable Irish/EEA nationals available; development opportunities are not undermined; genuine skills shortages exists rather than a recruitment or retention problem; and Government education, training and economic development policies are supported. The review process invites stakeholders, through the public consultation, to provide data to substantiate claims of lack of skills or labour availability in a detailed evidence-based business case. Evidence is also required of structured and systematic engagement with the public employment service of the Department of Social Protection.

The next review will begin with a public consultation in the coming months with commencement announced on the Department's website. Contact details may also be forwarded to the Department for those who wish to receive email notification of the consultation phase.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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46. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason for the slow issuing of work permits for the hospitality sector seeking workers from abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59417/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.  The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations.

Since March 2020, my Department has implemented Covid-19 contingency arrangements moving employment permit operations seamlessly to a totally remote working environment.  Feedback received from enterprise across the board has been universally positive.  In fact, Ireland was one of the few countries that has managed to keep their employment permit system fully operational throughout the crisis. 

From the outset of the crisis, in order to assist the HSE and all other medical providers in the State to respond to, and to assist with, the public health response to the threat of Covid-19, all medical employment permits are expedited with immediate effect. 

My Department has seen a significant increase in applications for employment permits in 2021.  To the end of October, some 20,269 applications were received, representing a 50% increase over the same period in 2020 (13,425) and a 30% increase on 2019 (15,576), which itself represented an 11 year high in applications.  Processing times have been impacted by this increase in demand but also as a result of the HSE cyber-attack.  As a result of the HSE cyber-attack, employment permit applications associated with the July Doctors rotation (which occurs twice yearly in January and July) had to be submitted either manually or through other nonstandard methods.  This resulted in a significant additional administrative burden in dealing with these applications requiring staff to be temporarily reassigned to assist in this process.  The increased time required in processing these manual applications has had a direct impact on wider processing times for other employment permit applications. 

Cognisant of the significant impact the pandemic has had on the Hospitality Sector, when the sector reopened in July, my Department committed to prioritise the processing of chef employment permit applications received in the processing queue at that time, in order to support the sector. 

My Department is very conscious of the recent lengthening of timeframes for processing Employment Permit applications and is committed to reducing these further.  As such the Employment Permits Unit has commenced steps to address the current backlog, confident that they will bear fruit over the coming months.  It advises all employers to take the current timelines into account as part of their recruitment plans.

My Department updates the employment permit processing timelines on its website on a weekly basis and regularly issues updates on relevant employment permit matters through the Employment Permits Trusted Partners network such as the September update on employment permit processing timelines.